No Huddle – New York Jets Debacle Edition

The Jets, despite now sitting in a four way first place AFC East tie at 2-2, are in trouble folks. They can’t tackle, and they can’t run. With Santonio Holmes hurt now, a paper thin passing attack and part thin depth chart may become invisible altogether. Led by a QB who has that “look” again. One that exudes a lack of confidence. Either in himself, his teammates, or both.

1 – The Sanchez Fumble

Down 7-0 with time winding down in the first half, the Jets had a third down inside of FG range when Mark Sanchez decided to scramble on a vicious 49ers defense. A 7-3 deficit at halftime, albeit aided by some Niner miscues to that point, could have been a moment to rally around. The fumble by the Jets “leader” ended hopes for points though. Turning a one score game into a 10-0 problem. Which became a nosedive shortly thereafter.

The play didn’t cost the Jets the game, but it ended any mutual control over it.

2 – Elite? How About “Easy To Beat”

We know Darrelle Revis is gone, but how much would he have impacted the 254 yard rushing attack the Niners had today? The Jets couldn’t stop Betty White on the ground right now. Until this sad truth changes, you can forget the defense being able to exert it’s will in any games.

Now starting CB Kyle Wilson got beat three times, but never burned, thanks to Niner QB Alex Smith being off. Matt Schaub and even rookie Andrew Luck won’t miss the mark like Smith did that often. If #20 doesn’t get it together this week, danger is on the way for the Jets downfield.

Now the defense actually kept it a game by the half, but games are 60 minutes long, not 30.

3 – Holmes Injury Exposes Management

Now Santonio Holmes is hurt. Poor Jets. They are having such bad luck so far in 2012 health wise, right? Wrong.

Players get hurt. It’s the NFL. The Jets had no contingency plan on offense for any injury to Santonio Holmes going into 2012. It was as if the front office felt that he and anyone else alongside him, could keep the offense moving through the air. Never mind some wild notion of Holmes getting hurt at any point. We hate to say it, but would the Giants have left their starters unprotected? WR Ramses Barden went off in Carolina with Hakeem Nicks out. So did no-named RB Andre Brown with Ahmad Bradshaw out.

Having no other quality experienced receivers and reasonable backups on the roster wasn’t just risky, it was dumb. Now the Jets are paying for it and will continue to pay for it.

4 – Tebow! Tebow! You Say? We say McElroy! McElroy!

If the Jets finally give in to a backup taking over at QB this year, we all know that its Tim Tebow who will get his chance. Rightfully so. If energy flatlines and some would say it already has on O, then Tebow may be the perfect short term injection. If Tebow goes in the tank though, how about NOT giving the ball back to Mark Sanchez but to 3rd stringer Greg McElroy instead?

Let’s see what the kid’s got. Mac may not have a gun, but like Tebow, ha swon a National Championship too, and has shown smarts and composure in limited summer time action. The former Alabama QB has that QB look to him. Just planting a seed here for the winter, should the Jets house of cards completely crumble, that’s all.

5 – Coaches If This Was YOUR Game To Win, Now What?

The Jet coaches needed a stellar disciplined plan in order to beat a better and healthier Niner team. Instead, the Jets looked unprepared and even more outmatched than it ever was on paper. Now what? If week 4 was to show us how shrewd coaches Rex Ryan and his staff could be, what is week 5 supposed to mean? We would like it to mean that the staff still has the ability to provide proof that there are still some schematic solutions to some of the problems. Obviously losing key pieces makes it harder to achieve this, but there IS a way to show the fan base that games can still be winnable based on HOW they are being played.